Vietnam’s Can Gio port bets US$4.96 billion on transshipment hub status
15 Sep 20264 min read
Summary
- Ho Chi Minh City approved the investor consortium behind Can Gio International Transshipment Port on 13 April 2026, with MSC's terminal arm holding 49 per cent equity in the US$4.96 billion project.
- The port is designed for 4.8 million TEU by 2030 and 16.9 million TEU by 2047, sitting below Asia's established hubs when it opens and matching Tanjung Pelepas or Rotterdam only two decades from now.
- MSC's 49 per cent stake gives Can Gio a plausible route to base vessel calls, but Vietnam's parallel Da Nang port investment and Saigon Port's below-tier productivity are the two constraints on whether the port hits its 2047 target.
Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee approved the investor consortium behind Can Gio International Transshipment Port on 13 April 2026, with Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), the terminal arm of Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), holding the largest equity share at 49 per cent of the US$4.96 billion project. The port is designed to become Vietnam’s first deep-water transshipment hub capable of handling the ultra-large container vessels that carry the Asia-Europe and Asia-Americas trades.
Can Gio sits at the mouth of the Cái Mép-Thị Vải channel in Ganh Rai Bay, roughly 50 kilometres south-east of central Ho Chi Minh City. The site is on Phu Loi island, at the Cái Mép estuary on the left side of the Vũng Tàu-Thị Vải navigation channel, opposite the existing Cái Mép terminal cluster. Its selection as a transshipment site rests on channel depth engineered through dredging: Ho Chi Minh City’s 12 September 2026 decision mandates dredging to 16 to 18 metres to accommodate the ultra-large container vessels the port is designed to serve. Rotterdam’s engineered channel draught is 14.2 metres. Singapore’s main channels are dredged to 16 metres. Can Gio would compete at the top of that range.
The strategic pitch is that Vietnam has for two decades sent a meaningful share of its container transshipment volume to Singapore and to Malaysia’s Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), and a working domestic hub would recover some of that volume. The volume Vietnam is competing against is large. Singapore handled 44.66 million TEU in 2025, an 8.6 per cent increase on 2024, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), of which more than 80 per cent was transshipment. Port Klang handled 15.14 million TEU in 2025, up 3.4 per cent on 2024. PTP handled 14.03 million TEU in 2025 and grew 13.8 per cent on 2024, per operator MMC Port.
Can Gio’s 4.8 million TEU 2030 target puts it below all three of these when it opens. Its 16.9 million TEU 2047 target, if achieved on schedule, would put it in the same tier as PTP and Rotterdam roughly two decades from now, and behind Singapore.
Three factors determine whether the 2047 target is achievable. First is network effects. Transshipment hubs earn their volume from the number of vessels that call there, and vessel calls follow the shipping alliances. MSC’s 49 per cent stake makes it materially likely that MSC-led alliance services will call at Can Gio once construction completes. That is a distinct advantage over other greenfield hubs in the region.
Second is berth productivity. Singapore, PTP and Rotterdam operate at gross crane rates above 35 container moves per hour, which allows them to handle short vessel calls without adding dwell time to the mother vessel’s schedule. Vietnam’s existing terminals operate below that rate. Saigon Port, the country’s current largest, records gross crane rates in the mid-20s. Can Gio would need to build productivity from a lower baseline than its regional competitors.
Third is the parallel development question. Vietnam’s Da Nang region has two distinct Lien Chieu port projects on separate approval tracks. The VND6.209 trillion (approximately US$246 million) infrastructure investment supporting Lien Chieu received approval on 6 August 2026. The separate and larger VND45.268 trillion (roughly US$1.8 billion) Lien Chieu container port project, per Vietnam Investment Review, is a different track. Both projects create routing competition for Can Gio inside Vietnam’s own network.
The construction schedule is the near-term signal. Can Gio’s first phase is expected to break ground in late 2026 or early 2027, and the earliest date for a berth call is around 2029. That gives the MSC alliance decision time to consolidate: which services shift, which stay, and how much of Singapore’s or Klang’s Vietnam-transshipment volume moves onto Can Gio’s schedule when the berth opens.
Vietnam has built the geographic case. Whether Can Gio joins Tanjung Pelepas and Colombo in the next tier of Asian transshipment hubs, or joins the longer list of well-located ports that never won the vessel calls their pier lengths could handle, will depend on how much of MSC’s Asia network actually shifts.
Can Gio sits at the mouth of the Cái Mép-Thị Vải channel in Ganh Rai Bay, roughly 50 kilometres south-east of central Ho Chi Minh City. The site is on Phu Loi island, at the Cái Mép estuary on the left side of the Vũng Tàu-Thị Vải navigation channel, opposite the existing Cái Mép terminal cluster. Its selection as a transshipment site rests on channel depth engineered through dredging: Ho Chi Minh City’s 12 September 2026 decision mandates dredging to 16 to 18 metres to accommodate the ultra-large container vessels the port is designed to serve. Rotterdam’s engineered channel draught is 14.2 metres. Singapore’s main channels are dredged to 16 metres. Can Gio would compete at the top of that range.
The strategic pitch is that Vietnam has for two decades sent a meaningful share of its container transshipment volume to Singapore and to Malaysia’s Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), and a working domestic hub would recover some of that volume. The volume Vietnam is competing against is large. Singapore handled 44.66 million TEU in 2025, an 8.6 per cent increase on 2024, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), of which more than 80 per cent was transshipment. Port Klang handled 15.14 million TEU in 2025, up 3.4 per cent on 2024. PTP handled 14.03 million TEU in 2025 and grew 13.8 per cent on 2024, per operator MMC Port.
Can Gio’s 4.8 million TEU 2030 target puts it below all three of these when it opens. Its 16.9 million TEU 2047 target, if achieved on schedule, would put it in the same tier as PTP and Rotterdam roughly two decades from now, and behind Singapore.
Three factors determine whether the 2047 target is achievable. First is network effects. Transshipment hubs earn their volume from the number of vessels that call there, and vessel calls follow the shipping alliances. MSC’s 49 per cent stake makes it materially likely that MSC-led alliance services will call at Can Gio once construction completes. That is a distinct advantage over other greenfield hubs in the region.
Second is berth productivity. Singapore, PTP and Rotterdam operate at gross crane rates above 35 container moves per hour, which allows them to handle short vessel calls without adding dwell time to the mother vessel’s schedule. Vietnam’s existing terminals operate below that rate. Saigon Port, the country’s current largest, records gross crane rates in the mid-20s. Can Gio would need to build productivity from a lower baseline than its regional competitors.
Third is the parallel development question. Vietnam’s Da Nang region has two distinct Lien Chieu port projects on separate approval tracks. The VND6.209 trillion (approximately US$246 million) infrastructure investment supporting Lien Chieu received approval on 6 August 2026. The separate and larger VND45.268 trillion (roughly US$1.8 billion) Lien Chieu container port project, per Vietnam Investment Review, is a different track. Both projects create routing competition for Can Gio inside Vietnam’s own network.
The construction schedule is the near-term signal. Can Gio’s first phase is expected to break ground in late 2026 or early 2027, and the earliest date for a berth call is around 2029. That gives the MSC alliance decision time to consolidate: which services shift, which stay, and how much of Singapore’s or Klang’s Vietnam-transshipment volume moves onto Can Gio’s schedule when the berth opens.
Vietnam has built the geographic case. Whether Can Gio joins Tanjung Pelepas and Colombo in the next tier of Asian transshipment hubs, or joins the longer list of well-located ports that never won the vessel calls their pier lengths could handle, will depend on how much of MSC’s Asia network actually shifts.